World’s visionaries – CEOs, entrepreneurs, artists, technologists, scientists & more – gather under one roof for a cross-pollination of ideas and chance encounters for the next big breakthrough.
The annual INK Conference is where a part of this community gathers together for 3 days to celebrate successful milestones of the community’s journey. Here, change-makers from every walk of life also share their stories, ideas and perspectives in between 3-18 minutes – an ‘intellectual Mardi Gras’ if you please.
Immersive experience where thrilling ideas are brewing. This is where life changing connections and intense conversations occur – a scientist meets an artist; an archaeologist dines with a mountain climber and from discovering the depths of the ocean to exploring outer space to understanding our inner selves, INK takes you on a fascinating journey that expands your horizons.
The theme for INK2015 is ‘DISRUPT.’ Join us for INK2015, October 16-18, 2015 in Mumbai.
Amanda is founder and CEO of Artisan Connect, providing market access for high quality home décor products from artisans in developing countries to help them thrive. She conceived of Artisan Connect while she was recovering from injuries sustained in the Boston Marathon bombing.
Previously, Amanda was VP Marketing and Communications at AOptix, a leader in wireless communications infrastructure. As VP Corporate Communications at Splunk, Amanda helped prepare the company for its successful IPO in 2012. Before that, Amanda served as Global Head of Energy and Environment for Porter Novelli. As VP Corporate Marketing, Amanda prepared Calico Commerce for its public offering in 1999. In addition, Amanda led two highly regarded branding and web design agencies, as President of Studio Archetype (acquired by Sapient) and Managing Director of Sequence. Early in her career Amanda ran the Desktop Publishing Group at Apple.
Amanda is a private pilot. She serves as a mentor and has been entrepreneur in residence at Santa Clara University’s Global Social Benefits Institute. She is on the steering committee of the Alliance for Artisan Enterprise. Amanda is a trustee of Business Today Magazine (Princeton University) and sits on the board of Sustainable Travel International.
Anand is a filmmaker, playwright and artist, deeply interested in philosophy, evolutionary psychology and sci-fi. His first feature film, Ship of Theseus, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was touted as the ‘hidden gem of the year’. It has since gone on to win accolades worldwide – the only contemporary Indian film to be short-listed by the Critic’s Circle (UK) as one of 15 life-changing films of all time. Besides making films, Anand illustrates, writes songs, plays chess and dabbles in magic.
Annamma Spudich will blow your mind when it comes to connecting art, biology, ethno-botany and ancient scientific traditions. Annamma received her Ph.D and pursued postdoctoral work in molecular biology at Stanford University, and then carried out cell biology research at Stanford for 25 years – but something was still missing for her. After her work at the University of California, Anna left to devote her time to her life-long passion for ancient Indian scientific traditions in the natural sciences. With her extraordinary ability to connect the dots of seemingly separate fields, Anna curated a groundbreaking exhibit entitled “Such Treasure and Rich Merchandize: Indian Botanical Knowledge in 16th and 17th Century European Books”, and wrote several influential research papers about ethno-botany.
Anu Aga is on the Board of Thermax Limited, the leading Indian player in energy and environment management. She retired as Chairperson of the company in October, 2004. The Government of India conferred her with the Padma Shri Award for her distinguished service in the field of social work in 2010.
Aga has been very active in various national and local associations like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and had served as the Chairperson of CII’s Western Region. She has written extensively and given talks on the subjects of corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, role of women and education.
Aga is the Chairperson of the Thermax Social Initiative Foundation (TSIF) which runs the CSR activities of Thermax. Along with Akanksha, TSIF has signed a MOU to support three municipal schools in Pune. She is also closely associated with the Teach for India Initiative which attempts bridging the inequity gap in education. She is keenly involved in the causes of communal harmony and human rights, especially women and children.
Anuraag Saxena is the Asia-Head for the World Education Foundation, UK and leads the Asia partnerships and entry-strategy. He spent his corporate years with GE Capital, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, where he was heading strategy and change teams across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. Anuraag passionately believes that skills from academia and corporate-life, can and should be applied to solve social challenges as much as they solve economic ones
Anuradha Acharya is the founder and CEO of Mapmygenome, a molecular diagnostics company that offers personalized health solutions based on genetic tests. She is currently serving as a governing board member at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and is a governing board member at both the National Institute for Biomedical Genomics and the Association of Biotech Led Enterprises. Anuradha has received numerous accolades such as the “Young Global Leader” award by the World Economic Forum, Biospectrum’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” and Red Herring Magazine’s “25 Tech Titans under 35″, to name a few
Arunabh Kumar, featured in Fortune “40 Under 40” List of India’s Business Leaders of 2015, is the Founder & CEO of The Viral Fever (TVF Group), a new age media company, with the philosophy of “Lights…Camera…Experiment !”. He is hailed as an expert on Youth Entertainment and a driver of Online Content Evolution in India. TVF’s Online business entity “TVF-ONE” got featured in top 20 Start Ups in India of 2014.
He created India’s 1st YouTube Channel for original content to cross a Million Subscribers. He has diversified ‘TVF Group’ into a cluster of media businesses in Branded Content Solutions, Live Entertainment, Distribution platform and intends to make ‘TVF’, India’s answer to Disney.
Ayushmann Khurrana is an Indian film actor and singer, who started his career as a television anchor. He deftly manoeuvred his way further in the entertainment industry by establishing himself as a TV host, and as luck would have it, he landed the lead role in Shoojit Sircar’s Vicky Donor and therein went onto making his Bollywood debut in 2012.The film not only won rave reviews, but also established him as a bankable actor. The ‘Paani da rang‘ song that he sung in Vicky Donor added another feather in his cap. His debut film won Ayushmann awards galore, not just for his acting, but his singing talent as well.
Ayushmann followed this up with a string of films where his performances were appreciated, and was celebrated for truly being someone who choose the unfollowed path when it comes to the kind of characters he chose to potray in the films he’s done so far.
His performance in his last film, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, not only won him rave reviews, the film went on to become a huge success at the box office not only in India, but internationally as well. Ayushmann’s book, ‘Cracking The Code,’ has been appreciated by industry insiders and his fans as well. His career is going from strength to strength, and there are some major announcements that will happen soon, including a peppy single titled, ‘Yahin hoon main.’ There’s a lot in store from Ayushmann for his fans across the world!
Balan Ayyar is the chief operating officer of Sevatec, Virginia-based technology contractor. Prior to joining Seratec, Balam has served in the US Air Forces. A retired brigadier general, Balan has more than two-decade veteran in the areas of nuclear weapons, intelligence, national security and supply chain management. He has led the Air Force’s sales, advertising and marketing arm and oversaw a multi-service interagency effort aimed at establishing rule of law as well as protecting U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan.
The Air Force Academy graduate also serves as a White House Fellow and on the Council on Foreign Relations. He finished the senior fellow program at Harvard University and earned a master’s degrees from Auburn University and the National Defense University.
Dr. Catherine Mohr is the Vice President of Medical Research at Intuitive Surgical, a high technology surgical robotics company that makes the da Vinci surgical robot. In this role, she develops new robotic surgical procedures, and evaluates technologies to improve outcomes with surgical robots. In addition, she is a Consulting Assistant Professor in the department of Surgery at Stanford School of Medicine where she works with the Goodman Simulation Center in the development of simulation based curriculum for teaching clinical skills.
In her early career, Dr. Mohr has worked for many years with Dr. Paul MacCready at AeroVironment developing alternate energy vehicles, high altitude aircraft, and high efficiency fuel cell power systems aimed at reducing our world’s energy consumption and emissions. Dr. Mohr then went on to medical school at Stanford University School of Medicine and received her BS and MS in mechanical engineering from MIT. She is also the author of numerous scientific publications, and the recipient of multiple design awards.
Dr. Balamurali Ambati M.D. PH.D. became the world’s youngest doctor, receiving his medical degree at the age of 17. He was rated #1 in a Top 40 under 40 global survey of ophthalmologists by The Ophthalmologist magazine in May 2015. Dr. Ambati has been chosen as one of the Moran Jazz Doctors, the NBA Utah Jazz team ophthalmologists.
Dr. Ambati is an eye surgeon specializing in lifestyle lens implants, LASIK, cataract surgery and corneal transplants. As leader in ophthalmology, Dr. Ambati is the Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and the team ophthalmologist for the Utah Utes. He also directs a laboratory for developing new cures for eye diseases and volunteers his time with ORBIS, Project Hope, Sight for the Sightless, the Navajo Nation, and other humanitarian outreach efforts.
Whether as a comedian, a writer, a radio commentator and/or speaker, Emily updates her audience on Big Ideas from science and shows how these Ideas suggest changes in our social institutions, our business practices, even our everyday behavior. Emily’s brand of Big Ideas and Big Laughs provoke and inspire as well as entertain.
Starting out with stand-up comedy Emily went on to became a television writer/producer, working on shows such as “Designing Women“, “Love and War” and “Dangerous Minds“. Under overall deals at Universal Studios and The Walt Disney Company, she created and produced pilots for new situation comedies for CBS, NBC, ABC and HBO
Flavia Agnes is a pioneer in the women’s movement in India. Motivated by personal experience with domestic violence to earn her law degree, Flavia has since worked consistently on gender issues. As co-founder of MAJLIS, a legal and cultural resource center, her primary engagement has been to provide quality legal services to women and children. A prolific writer, she has provided incisive analysis of social trends and legal developments related to domestic violence, minority concerns, secularism, and human rights
Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Vice Chairman & CEO of Zensar Technologies, a leading firm that optimises technology and processes for Fortune 500 companies. Natarajan’s industry responsibilities include leadership of the HBS Club of India, Chairman of the National Committee on Knowledge Management and Business Transformation and the Western Region Committee on Skills for the Confederation of Indian Industry. He was Chairman of NASSCOM in 2008 and is a member of the Chairmen’s Council of NASSCOM. He is also a fellow of the Computer Society of India. Ganesh is a Director of Social Venture Partners India and Convener of SVP Pune.
Natarajan has been appointed the Chairman of NASSCOM Foundation for 2014-16. He is also a Founder and Board Member of Global Talent Track, a pioneer in Employability Skills Training in Asia
Harsh Mariwala leads Marico Limited as its Chairman. Over the past three decades, Mariwala has transformed a traditional commodities driven business into a leading consumer products and services company in the Beauty and Wellness space. From a turnover of Rs. 50 Lakhs in 1971, Marico’s products and services in hair care, skin care and healthy foods generated a turnover of about Rs. 5,733 Crores during 2014-15.
Under Mariwala’s leadership, Marico has achieved several awards and over 100 external recognitions in the last few years. His entrepreneurial drive and passion for innovation, enthused him to establish the Marico Innovation Foundation in 2003. Under the stewardship of an eminent Board, the Foundation acts as a catalyst to fuel innovation in India. As an expression of his personal social responsibility, Mariwala launched ASCENT – Accelerating the Scaling up of Enterprises to identify growth-stage entrepreneurs with potential and enable them in their scaling-up journey.
Mariwala was the President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in 2011. He has been a part of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and is now a part of the World Presidents Organization (WPO). He has held the position of YPO Education, Membership and Chapter Chair for the Bombay Chapter and was a member of the International Forum Board of YPO International.
Imaad Shah is an Indian actor and musician. He is one half of Madboy/Mink, India’s leading Electro Cabaret-Disco-Funk duo. He is also a theatre actor, and works with theatre company Motley, founded by Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani.
Sahabzade Irrfan Ali Khan also popularly known as Irrfan Khan is an Indian actor in film, television and theatre. Khan has spread his acting prowess beyond India and is today one of the celebrated Indian faces internationally. Khan has won three Filmfare Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Independent Spirit Award nomination. In 2011, he became a recipient of the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India. He has appeared in more than 30 films in Bollywood, to name a few remarkable roles of the actor are Paan Singh Tomar, Haasil, Life in a metro, Gunday, Maqbool, and Haider.
Khan is probably India’s most successful export to Hollywood, having tasted success with experimental roles in several critically acclaimed films such as e The Namesake, New York, I Love You, A Mighty Heart, The Darjeeling Limited, Slumdog Millionaire, The Amazing Spider-Man, Life of Pi, and Jurassic World, and in the HBO series In Treatment. Khan recently shot for his two upcoming international projects: Dan Brown’s Inferno and another Japanese-American TV series.
Khan’s film Piku was one of the most appreciated films of the year 2015 for which he also received a best actor’s award at the Indian Film Festival. He was also marked as the first “Million Dollar Khan” in Bollywood with worldwide success of his Hollywood film Jurassic World. We would also be seeing him wooing audience in his forthcoming films Jazbaa and Talvar.
Khan was born and brought up in Jaipur, India. He was born into a Muslim Nawab family. He was studying for his M.A. degree when he earned a scholarship to study at National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi in 1984.
Josh Radnor is perhaps best known for his role as Ted, the central character on CBS’s Emmy-nominated comedy HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER which ended its nine-season run in March 2014, but Radnor’s talents extend beyond acting, and he has quickly established himself as both a gifted writer and director.
He has written, directed and starred in two feature films. His most recent, LIBERAL ARTS, in which he co-starred alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Richard Jenkins and Allison Janney, premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was released by IFC that fall. His first feature film, HAPPTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE, debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Favorite U.S. Drama. The film was released in March 2011 by Anchor Bay.
Radnor can next be seen playing a morphine-addicted surgeon in the new PBS Civil War hospital drama, MERCY STREET, premiering in January of 2016. He was last seen on Broadway starring in DISGRACED, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Ayad Akhtar which received a 2015 Tony nomination for Best Play.
In 2013, he starred in Jill Soloway’s AFTERNOON DELIGHT co-starring Kathryn Hahn and Juno Temple. The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where Soloway won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award.
In addition to film and television, Radnor first starred on Broadway as the title character in THE GRADUATE opposite Kathleen Turner and Alicia Silverstone. Off-Broadway and regionally, he has appeared at the Manhattan Theater Club, The Vineyard Theater, and Baltimore Center Stage, among others.
In Los Angeles, he originated the roles of “Young Sandy” and “Sam” in the Ovation Award-winning world premiere production of Jon Robin Baitz’s THE PARIS LETTER at the Kirk Douglas Theater. Two summers ago appeared in New York Stage and Film’s world premiere production of Richard Greenberg’s THE BABYLON LINE, directed by Terry Kinney.
His television credits include guest appearances on ER, SIX FEET UNDER, JUDGING AMY, and LAW & ORDER among others. He was a series regular on ABC’s THE COURT starring Sally Field. He made his film debut in the original teen spoof, NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE.
Radnor has had several articles published in the Los Angeles Times Magazine. He has also written for The Rumpus, Guilt and Pleasure Magazine, Moviemaker Magazine, Indiewire, and The Huffington Post.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Radnor attended Kenyon College where he won the Paul Newman Acting Trophy. He received his M.F.A. in acting from N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of the Arts. He currently resides in Los Angeles
Dr. Kanniks Kannikeswaran is an award-winning composer, music educator, and scholar whose musical productions have been performed at venues around the globe. His productions are consistent with his vision of building bridges across cultures by celebrating threads of commonality. He is the recipient of several awards such as the McKnight Fellowship, the Ohio Heritage Fellowship, the Just Community Award, a lifetime achievement award from the Geeva Foundation, the Hindu American Foundation and more.
Kanniks is credited with creating a new sound — the coming together of Indian voices with traditional western choirs. In doing so, he has broken new ground. The Indian-American choral movement he pioneered has caught on in several cities. His work spread to Europe where the first ever Surinamese-Hindustani choir founded under his leadership performed his work ‘Ragas in Symphony’ alongside the Dario-Fo choir and the Residentie Orkest in the Hague, Netherlands.
Kanniks has the distinction of having had his composition ‘Mahavakya’ performed by his daughter Vidita Kanniks at the historic reception in honor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Madison Square Gardens in New York to an audience of about 18,000.
His magnum opus ‘Shanti A Journey of Peace’ — a contemporary oratorio for large choruses, a chamber orchestra, dances and visuals recently completed its 10th anniversary in Cincinnati, featuring mixed choruses, western and Indian instrumental ensembles, dancers and more. Shanti has touched the lives of over 1500 performers over the last 10 years. Kanniks is the founder of Greater Cincinnati Indian community choir, which won two silver medals in the prestigious “Champions Category” in the 7th World Choir Games.
Kanniks’ musical capabilities have led him to collaborate with renowned artists such as Lakshmi Shankar, The Gundecha Brothers, Mallika Sarabhai, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Pops.
Named one of CNN’s Top 7 Tech Heroes to Watch in 2015, Kathryn has spent the past decade teaching and doing research on exponential technologies, being there at the beginning for the first Singularity Summits, for Singularity University, and contributing research and analysis for two New York Times best sellers. Kathryn is a global expert on exponentially growing technologies and the synthesis of the broad set of related fields of the Singularity movement.
Her analysis and data played central roles in the two leading books in the field: Ray Kurzweil’s “The Singularity is Near”, (2005) and Peter Diamandis & Steven Kotler’s “Abundance” (2012). She also helped create the first Singularity Summits and assisted in the creation of Singularity University, serving in multiple roles, including director of research, from 2009-2013. She continues to serve on the faculty, leading the track on technology convergence and synthesis.
Slightly more in the present, Kathryn has worked as a research analyst in various industries, including energy, telecom, storage and security, and contributed to non-profit efforts and been active in the maker, hacking and science fiction communities, and the art community of Burning Man. She holds degrees in Economics and Zoology from UC Davis.
One of India’s most admired film creators, Kiran Rao is an accomplished producer, director, and screenwriter. Getting her start as an assistant director, she contributed to such favorites as the Oscar-nominated epic Lagaan, the indie hit Monsoon Wedding, and many others. She also produced the box-office smash Delhi Belly and contributed to the production of the award-winning Taare Zameen Par. Kiran scripted and directed the 2011 drama Dhobi Ghat, which received critical acclaim for its nuanced, atmospheric depiction of Mumbai.
Kirthiga Reddy is the Managing Director of Facebook in India. She has been featured in Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business 2013, Business Today’s hottest young executives, Fortune India’s Top 50 Most Powerful Women in India, #1 in IMPACT’s 50 Most Influential Women list in media, marketing and advertising 2015.
Kirthiga is also on the Governing Council of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Kirthiga joined as the first Facebook India employee in July 2010 and set up the India operations in Hyderabad. Prior to Facebook, Kirthiga was VP and GM of SaaS-based Consumer Security business unit and India operations at Phoenix Technologies. She led a global team located in US, India, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Kirthiga has also held the position of Director of Product Management at Motorola, Director of Engineering at Silicon Graphics and Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton.
She holds an MBA from Stanford University, where she graduated with top honors as an Arjay Miller Scholar, an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University and a B.E. in Computer Science from Ambedkar University, India. She serves on Stanford Business School Management Board and Indian School of Business (ISB) Next Generation Leadership Board.
K. P. Mohanan received his Ph. D in linguistics from MIT, Cambridge, USA in 1982. After teaching at the University of Texas at Austin, MIT, Stanford University, and the National University of Singapore (NUS), he joined the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, India in January 2011. He has made significant contributions to linguistic theory in the areas of phonology, syntax, and morphology. His academic interests go beyond linguistics to include scientific inquiry and the nature of academic knowledge, and rational inquiry in general, against the broader backdrop of human beliefs. He is also an ardent spokesperson for radical educational reform, and spearheaded a number of educational initiatives at NUS.
Drawing on his experience as a researcher and educationist, as well as his thinking on academic knowledge and inquiry, his current preoccupation is to develop systems and resource materials that go beyond the traditional aims of underastanding and application of knowledge. As the founding member of ThinQ, a team of educators committed to promoting inquiry and integration in primary, secondary, and tertiary education, his mission is to help institutions set up and conduct courses on Inquiry-and-Integration, with the hope of helping learners understand the evidence and arguments for/against “knowledge” claims; develop the capacity for critical thinking and the ability to inquire; and develop an integrated understanding of the concepts of knowledge and inquiry
M.R. Rangaswami is a software executive, investor, entrepreneur, corporate eco-strategy expert, community builder and philanthropist. In 1997, he co-founded Sand Hill Group one of the earliest “angel” investment firms and was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. He produced the prestigious Enterprise and Software conferences that were held in Silicon Valley. He was also listed on the Forbes “Midas” list of investors.
He is also the founder of Corporate Eco Forum, an invitation-only membership organization for Global 500 companies that demonstrate a serious commitment to environment as a business strategy issue.
In 2012, M.R. founded Indiaspora (a non-profit) to unite Indian Americans and to transform their success into meaningful impact in India and on the global stage.
Literally translated as “Language of the Earth”, Maati Baani is the musical pairing of composer/producer/guitarist Kartik Shah and vocalist/composer Nirali Kartik. Teaming up with other musicians, the twosome places Indian classical music within the different sounds, cultures, languages, and voices of the world. Not only is the result original, but the method of collaboration is as well: it’s all done completely online. The duo’s new video-album series, made with a “no rules, no boundaries” approach, features 70 artists across 20 countries
Born into a shepherding family, Madhukar Dhas has a keen understanding of the struggles of rural farmers. Motivated by the need to conserve water, in 1995 Madhukar banded with like minds to found Dilasa. To date, this NGO has benefitted more than 110,000 farmers with sustainable initiatives such as holistic watershed management, mixed cropping strategies, and seed banks. Diliasa received the National Rural Innovation Award from the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development for its work in water channeling.
Mastering more than one musical instrument is no easy feat, but Meagan Pandian has won acclaim on the piano, the violin, and the concert pedal harp. Named the Young Musician of the Year in 2014 by the Olga and Jules Craen Foundation, Meagan has performed all over India. Furthermore, she has taken part in music study and festivals in England, Scotland, and France. In addition to performing as an instrumentalist, Meagan also sings in choral productions and teaches children and adults.
T.V. Mohandas Pai is the Chairperson of the Board of Manipal Global Education Services Private Limited and Advisor to the Manipal Education and Medical Group. Mohan is also on the Board of Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte Ltd (“APFT”), as Trustee-Manager of Ascendas India Trust (“a-iTrust). Recently, he has co-founded AARIN Capital with the intention of funding operational support in Technology, Ecommerce, Health Care and Life Science. He is based out of Bangalore, India.
Mohan actively interfaces with key leadership at Indian regulators to improve the business ecosystem. His areas of focus are Education, Information Technology (“IT”) and Human Resource Development aimed at improving the quality of education and availability of skilled manpower in the Country.
He was a Member of the Board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) and, was for many years before a Member of SEBI’s sub-committee on Accounting Standards. He is currently the Chairman of SEBI Primary Markets Advisory Committee (PMAC). Mohan was a Trustee of the International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) Foundation, the body that oversees the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”), for nearly six years now. Mohan was a Member of the Dr. Anil Kakodkar Committee on Autonomy for the IITs and the Karnataka Knowledge Commission. He is currently a Member on the Boards of IIT – Bhubaneswar and IPE, Hyderabad.
Mohan was a Member of the Kelkar Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, to reform direct tax regulations. He was also a Member of the Non-Resident Taxation Committee, the High Powered Committee on e-Commerce and Taxation, and the Empowered Committee for setting up the Country’s Tax Information Network.
Until mid-2011, Mohan was a Member of the Board at Infosys Limited, Bangalore (formerly Infosys Technologies Limited) where he headed Human Resources; the Infosys Leadership Institute; Education & Research; Administration; and Infrastructure & Facilities. Mohan was Chairperson of the Board of Infosys BPO Limited, a leading global business process outsourcing services provider, for seven years. Additionally, the Finacle and Platform Group business units reported into him.
Mohan joined Infosys in 1994 and was elevated to a Member of the Board in 2000. He was Infosys’s CFO from 1994 to 2006. In 2006, he voluntarily relinquished the role to lead Human Resources and Education & Research. In June 2011, Mohan stepped out of Infosys to pursue his other long-standing passion – higher education for human development.
As CFO at Infosys, Mohan played a strategic role in transforming the Company into one of the world’s most respected and well known software services companies based out of India. He formulated the country’s first publicly articulated corporate financial policy, played a pivotal role in branding the company amongst the investor community and set new standards in transparency and disclosure across the Indian corporate sector.
Mohan was a key player in the development of the IT services industry in India. Mohan instituted several industry-firsts in the Country. He was instrumental in instituting India’s first employee stock option plan that enabled employees across Infosys to be part of and consequently to share in the wealth creation by the company. In India, this was the first ever employee stock option plan, which subsequently has been widely emulated. At Infosys, Mohan led the first listing of an India-registered company on the NASDAQ and the first sponsored secondary offering of American Depositary Shares by an Indian company. Mohan was an early adopter of US Sarbanes Oxley regulations, considered the world’s most demanding requirements on corporate governance.
As CFO, Mohan won multiple awards in Finance & Accounting. He was voted ‘CFO of the Year’ in 2001 by IMA India (formerly EIU – India) and American Express, the very first year that the award was instituted. He also won the ‘Best CFO in India’ award from Finance Asia in 2002, and ‘Best Chief Financial Officer in India’ in the Best Managed Companies poll conducted by Asia Money in 2004 and many others. He was honored with the Kannada Rajyotsava Award for his exemplary public service. Under his supervision Infosys’s annual report won the Best Presented Annual Accounts Award from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for 10 consecutive years as well as the award from the South Asia Federation of Accountants.
Mohan has a keen interest in human development through education such as illiteracy eradication through the promotion of primary education. In 2000, he along with certain other philanthropists set up the AkshayaPatra Foundation, Bangalore – a mid-day meal program for school going children.
Mohan holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from St. Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bangalore, and a bachelor’s degree in law (LLB) from Bangalore University. He is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Naved Shaikh is an emerging rap artist from Mumbai. Known by his stage name Naezy, he is known for his ‘desi rap’ performances in Hindi.Naved Shaikh is an emerging rap artist from Mumbai. Known by his stage name Naezy, he is known for his ‘desi rap’ performances in Hindi.
Pranay grew up in India but right after his education, he moved to New York to join Mitchell Madison Group, a strategy consulting firm that advised clients in media and finance industries. Two years into the country, he launched a startup which he later merged with Walker Digital, Priceline’s incubator. The startup focused on helping small businesses convert online leads into paying customers. His work at Walker Digital earned him a US patent in the area of matchmaking between buyers and sellers. Subsequently, Pranay helped large US media companies such as movie studios and publishers evaluate and launch new digital businesses as a Principal at Booz & Co. in New York.
Pranay is an avid follower of films. He likes them enough that he learnt film making at the New York Film Academy and made a new-format feature film that also turns into a game. The film encouraged the audience to be a part of the narrative and the story of the film unfolded based on their actions. The film was made with the bet that some day internet would dominate video distribution, sending video to intelligent devices, and that will give rise to new entertainment formats that cut across films and games. While making the film in New York, Pranay used Craigslist to audition almost 100 actors, recruit 50+ cast/crew members, hire software developers, and even rent his apartment in New York while he sat in India editing its final cut. That is when he realized that nothing like Craigslist existed in India which led to the birth of Quikr.
Pranay graduated from IIM Calcutta with a Gold Medal in 1996, and earned a B.Tech. from IIT Delhi prior to that.
Priyamvada Natarajan is a professor in the Departments of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University. She is a theoretical astrophysicist interested in cosmology, gravitational lensing and black hole physics. Her research is focused on making dark matter maps of clusters of galaxies, the largest known repositories of dark matter. She is also exploring a new channel for the formation of the first black holes and its observational consequences at high and low redshift.
In addition to her academic position at Yale, she also currently holds the Sophie and Tycho Brahe Professorship of the Dark Cosmology Center, Niels Bohr Institute, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She has been recently elected to an Honorary Professorship for life at the University of Delhi, India. She has won many awards such as the India Abroad Foundation’s “Face of the Future ” Award, academic achievement from the Global Organization for the People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), India Empire NRI award for Achievement in the Sciences. Priya was also elected a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Explorers Club in 2010. Priya currently serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Astronomy Department and is actively engaged in developing strategies to enhance numerical and scientific literacy for the public at large and writes for the New York Review of Books. Her first book aimed at the public, “Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas that Reveal the Cosmos”, will be published in April 2016.
Rashesh Shah has spent over 25 years in the corporate and financial markets sector and is one of the leading spokespersons for the industry. He started Edelweiss in 1996 that has since grown into one of India’s leading diversified financial services conglomerates.
The 270 billion Edelweiss Group is present across all significant areas of financial services including Credit, Housing Finance, Financial Markets, Commodities, Asset Management and Life Insurance. The Group has 240 offices in 125 cities, including eight international offices in New York, Canada, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mauritius, Nigeria and Chad with headquarters in Mumbai, India.
Rashesh is passionate about financial services and the role it can play in translating India’s vast savings into investments; thereby powering economic growth and development. Under his leadership, Edelweiss has combined technology, innovation and growth oriented entrepreneurship with a strong focus on risk management to become one of the more successful, stable and well respected financial services companies in India. Finance Asia, Hong Kong ranked Edelweiss as India’s Best Managed mid-cap company in 2013 and 2014.
A regular commentator on macro- economic policies, development matters and financial markets in the mainline and financial media, Rashesh serves on the Boards of various companies and public institutions. He has previously been on the Executive Committee of the National Stock Exchange and also on the SEBI (Stock Exchange Board of India) committee to review Insider Trading Regulations. He currently serves as Chairman, Maharashtra Council of FICCI and is a part of the Directors Forum formed by corporate stalwarts under the aegis of the FICCI Center for Corporate Governance seeking to improve the quality of board-level governance in Indian industry.
Ravi Chaturvedi became the first ever Asian President and Member, Global Leadership Council of the Procter and Gamble (P&G) company. He was also the Group Chief Executive, Jet Airways for a short tenure.
He is a consultant and advisor to the Nitto Denko Corporation, Osaka, Japan. For the CEO Council of Lighthouse Funds, a PE company based in Mumbai, Ravi advises several CEOs on the company’s portfolio ranging from cookies, plastics, pesticides to diagnostic labs, retail, and snack foods companies. He is also an advisor to Marico and to Emami, Indian consumer goods companies that are expanding internationally.
He is a Senior Fellow in the Management Department of the Wharton School of Business, and a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ronojoy Adhikari is a scientist at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai. His research focusses on two main areas, investigating the physics of materials and designing algorithms that make machines mimic human intelligence. Ronojoy is the recipient of the Faculty Research Award from Google Inc and the DAE-SRC Outstanding Investigator Award from the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.
He has been Hamied Visiting Lecturer at Cambridge University and Indo-US Science and Technology Fellow at Princeton University and New York University. Ronojoy earned a doctorate in physics from the Indian Institute of Science and then worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Edinburgh.
Ronojoy’s research has been covered in national and international media, including the BBC and Time Magazine. Ronojoy is deeply interested in Indian music and in his free time is either playing sarodes badly or taking them apart to study their physics.
Sanaya Bharucha leads special projects and outreach at Teach for India, a nationwide movement of young professionals who commit two years to teaching in under-resourced communities. In this capacity she directed the Maya Musical, a partnership with Broadway-based artists. The production served a demonstration of what’s possible for low-income students with no previous exposure to the arts. Through this and other projects, Sanaya promotes integrated education which combines exposure and access, values and mindsets, and academic achievement.
Young Sandhya Kola has been studying violin nearly all her life—since she was four. Residing in an area with limited opportunity to study Western Classical traditions, Sandhya fed her passion through self-study and through Skype-based lessons. She is currently a grade 12 student at The International School Bangalore and plans to focus on music at university. Sandhya believes music is not only a means of self-expression but also a unique means of self-realization and introspection.
Seema Kamble’s journey of educational achievement began when she was a student at the Akanksha Foundation, a nonprofit organization which provides underprivileged children with access to quality education. Flourishing with the foundation’s support, she went on to earn her Bachelor’s in Commerce. When granted admission into an MBA program, however, she declined–opting instead to focus on educational service. Seema has taught third and fourth grades and is currently a principal with Teach for India.
British writer and director Shamim Sarif is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and feature film director. She has published three novels and one non-fiction book and has written and directed three feature films and a documentary.
Shamim recently completed Despite the Falling Snow, which had its market premiere at Cannes in May 2015. The movie stars Rebecca Ferguson (Mission Impossible 5 and The White Queen) and Charles Dance and is an epic story of love and betrayal in cold war Russia based on her second novel, published by Hodder Headline and St Martins Press to universal acclaim.
Her first feature film ‘I Can’t Think Straight’ won 11 awards and is currently under option with Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment for development as a TV series in the US. Her follow up movie ‘The World Unseen’ had its debut at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival before going on to garner 23 awards internationally, including 11 SAFTAs (South African Film Awards). Her third film, a documentary called The House of Tomorrow, was shot on location in Israel and Palestine and had festival debuts in New York and Sarasota in 2012 and won its first award this year in France.
The World Unseen book won the Pendleton May First Novel Award, and then the prestigious Betty Trask Award. It was selected for inclusion at all the major UK book festivals, including Hay-on-Wye, Cheltenham and Edinburgh and sold out of its initial print runs.
Shamim is currently completing the screenplay for her latest project, Hidden Agenda, an intelligent action thriller with female protagonists, based on her own forthcoming book. She is also developing the concept as a TV series with Left Bank Pictures.
Sharad Devarajan is a creator, producer and media entrepreneur. His latest company, Graphic India, is the culmination of his lifelong dream to launch superheroes and stories that tap into the unique creativity and culture of India but appeal to audiences worldwide. In the same way the West has created superheroes or Japan launched anime, Graphic India is transforming the perception of India in character entertainment from being an ‘outsourcer” to being ‘the source.’ In addition to Graphic India, he is also the Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Liquid Comics, a digital entertainment company that uses the medium of graphic novel storytelling to develop original content for various digital platforms, publishing, theatrical live-action films, animation and games
Vidya Shah is the CEO of EdelGive Foundation, which is the philanthropy arm of the Edelweiss group. Former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Edelweiss Group, she is now part of the board for various prominent organisations like Agastya International Foundation, Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Common Purpose, Women on Wings, Toolbox India Foundation and Masoom in addition to Edelweiss. In each of these organisations, her role enables her to contribute strategically which helps them build a stronger presence by implementing useful plans in an efficient manner.
She attained an MBA degree from IIM, Ahmadabad and spent the first 11 years of her career in the field of investment banking with companies like ICICI, Peregrine and NM Rothschild wherein, her role was to advise the corporate in Capital Raising and M&A transactions. Later, she worked in the capacity of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Edelweiss Group while also heading the Human Resources and Administration functions for the firm.
Apart from being an active member of the CSR and business fraternity, Vidya is a connoisseur of art and spearheads Edelweiss’s art event called Palette. Her love for the field of art is not limited to collecting artefacts and paintings, it extends to appreciate music and the same is visible in the efforts she is putting into learning this skill.
After having gained a diverse experience, she set up the EdelGive Foundation and has been its CEO since its inception. Under her leadership, over the last seven years, EdelGive has become a catalyst of change, dedicated to collaborative philanthropy in the fields of education, livelihoods and women empowerment.
